FT 

MEfiDE 


4HJ 

408 

Copy 1 


SPEECH 


OF 


MR. WEBSTER, OF MASSACHUSETTS, 


INTRODUCING HIS PROPOSITION 


FOR 

THE DISTRIBUTION 


THE SURPLUS REVENUE. 


IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 


Tuesday, Mat 31, 1836. 


WASHINGTON: 

PRINTER BY GALES & SEATON. 

18B6:’ 














1 


% 


















# 


f 


- 











ti&fr A 


4-HJ 

4oe 


SPEECH. 


Mr. President : I have no desire to make myself respon- 
sible, in any special manner, for what may either be done or 
omitted, on this subject. It is surrounded with difficulties, 
some of them, as I think, unnecessarily created ; and as these 
have been produced by measures in which I did not concur, it 
naturally belongs to others, who did concur in those measures, 
and who now possess the power, to apply the remedy according 
to their judgments, and on their own responsibility. But I in- 
cline, nevertheless, to express my opinions on a subject oj 
such very high interest, and to let them have what weight they 
are entitled to, if it may be supposed that they are entitled to 
any weight at all. 

On one point, I presume, we are all agreed, and that is, that 
the subject is of great importance. It affects the finances of 
the country, the security of the public money, and the state 
of the currency ; and it affects, also, the practical and actual 
distribution of power among the several branches of the Gov- 
ernment. 

The bill comprises provisions for two objects : 

First, regulations for the custody of the public money, be- 
tween the time of its collection and the time of its disburse- 
ment ; and, as naturally connected with this, it contemplates, 
or must at least very materially affect, the currency of the 
country, the exchanges, and the usual operations of credit in 
the commercial world. 

The second direct object of the bill is, a reduction, positive 
or contingent, of the amount of money in the Treasury. 

It seems probable, sir, the bill, so far as it respects the first 
of these objects, may be so modified as to receive the appro- 
bation of a majority of the Senate. A committee acting in a 
spirt of conciliation, and with an honest desire to avoid the 
points of former difference, might, I think, agree on the regu- 
* lations to be prescribed to the deposite banks. The sentiments 
which have been advanced in the course of the discussion do 
■not appear to be irreconcileable. In the present, state of things, 


4 


I see no way but to employ State banks as depositories of the 
public money ; and I have a sincere desire to subject them to 
such regulations, and such only, as shall make them, in the 
highest practicable degree, safe to the Government and use- 
ful to the country. 

To this end, I am of opinion that the first step is, to increase 
their numbers. At present their number, especially in the 
large cities, is too'small. They have too large sums in de- 
posite, in proportion to their capital and their legal limits of 
discount. By this means the public money is locked up. It 
is hoarded. It is withdrawn, to a considerable extent, from 
the general mass of commercial means, and is suffered to ac- 
cumulate, with no possible benefit to Government, and with 
great incovenience and injury to the general business of the 
country. On this point there seems little diversity of opinion. 
All appear to agree that the number of deposite banks should 
be so far increased, that each may regard that portion of the 
public treasure which it may receive, as an increase of its ef- 
fective deposites, to be used, like other moneys in deposite, 
as a basis of discount, to a just and proper extent. 

I regard this modification of the present system as indis- 
pensable. 

I think, too, that, for the use of these deposites, the banks 
should pay a moderate interest. They can well afford it. 
The best banks in the States will be ready, I do not doubt, 
to receive the deposites, on that condition among others. 
What the rate of interest should be, depends very much on 
what we may do with the surplus revenue. If we leave that 
surplus undistributed, the banks ought to. pay a large interest. 
If we provide for distributing the surplus, thus leaving but a 
small amount in the banks, and making it their duty, at the 
same time, to transfer the public funds from place to place 
when requested, without charge, the rate of interest should of 
course be less. 

I agree, too, to what has been suggested, respecting the au- 
thority to change those banks. They oughtliot to be changed, 
but for plain and specific cause, set dow T n and provided for in 
the law itself. Any restriction less than this, will place a dis- 
cretion in the hands of the Executive, which will be very ca- 
pable of being abused. 

Nor should the Secretary be at liberty to order funds from 
one bank to another, for any other reason than the exigencies 
of the public service. He should not be at liberty to use the 


5 


public treasures for the purpose of upholding the credit, or 
increasing the^ means, of any State institution. 

The bill proposes that all the deposite banks shall be bound 
to keep, at all times, an amount of specie in their vaults bear- 
ing a certain proportion to their debts and liabilities. I ap- 
prove of this, not so much from any belief that the solidity of 
the banks can be secured by any such provisions, as because, 
a regulation of this kind may tend, in some measure, to retain 
a certain quantity of specie in the country, and by that means 
to secure, in some small degree, the general circulation against 
violent shocks. But I do not attach great importance to this. 

In my opinion, Mr. President, if the bill pass with these 
modifications, a considerable benefit will be conferred on the 
community. Confidence will be, in some measure at least, 
restored ; the banks will possess the power of useful action, 
and the distressing uncertainty which now hangs over every 
thing being dispelled, the commercial community will find its 
way out of its present embarrassment. 

Still, sir, I am bound to say that the present system, in my 
opinion, can never be perfect. It can never be the best sys- 
tem. It can never be a safe regulator of the currency of 
country, nor furnish solid security against derangement. It 
can never give to the mercantile world the cheapest, safest, 
and best means of facilitating domestic exchanges. The 
State banks w ? ere not made for these general purposes ; they 
are not fitted for them ; they have not the unity and com- 
prehensiveness of plan and of operation which the suc- 
cessful accomplishment of such purposes requires. They are 
subject to various limitations by their charters, and it may 
even be doubtful, in some cases, whether they can legally 
bind themselves in such stipulations and contracts as we pro- 
pose to submit to them. They were established for local, not 
for general objects. 'They did not expect to receive Govern- 
ment deposites ; and it might possibly be thought important to 
their stockholders and customers to be informed wdiether, in 
case of failure or insolvency, the priority of the United States 
would prevail, as in other cases, to the postponement of all 
other debts and claims. It is certainly my opinion, sir, that 
w r e are running great hazards with the currency of the country. 

I see no w^ell-assured reliance for its safety in this system of 
deposite banks, regulated as well as they may be. Never- 
theless regulation is necessary, nay, it is indispensable ; and 
some present benefit at least would arise, I am persuaded, 
from the passage of a proper law. 


6 


I come now, sir, to the other important object of this bill 
— the reduction of the amount of money in the Treasury. 

And here the first question is, whether there will be any 
surplus revenue. Will there by any thing to divide at the 
end of this year ? On this point opinions are not agreed, but 
I think there will be a surplus, and a large surplus. I do not 
see any probability either of such a falling olf of income, on 
the one hand, or such an increase of expenditure, on the other, 
as shall leave the Treasury exhausted at the end of this year. 
I speak of this year only, because the measure which I shall 
propose will be limited to the end of this year. My plan is 
to provide for the surplus which may be on hand at the end 
of this year, and to stop there. As to the probable state of 
the Treasury at that time, I agree it is matter of opinion and 
estimate ; but we know what sum is on hand now, and we are 
drawing the session to a close, when appropriations will cease, 
and the year itself is already half expired. It would seem, 
then, that we ought to be able to judge of the state of the 
Treasury six months hence, without risk of great and wide 
mistake. I proceed on the following general estimate and 
calculation : 

January 1, 1836 : Amount of money in the Treas- 
ury, - $25,000,000 

Deducted unexpended balances of appropriations, 8,000,000 


$17,000,000 

Revenue of the first quarter of 1836, - - 11,000,000 

Estimate for the three last quarters of 1836, - 25,000,000 

Stock in late Bank of the United States, including 

premium, - 8,000,000 


$61,000,000 

Appropriations in 1836, estimated 

at $35,000,000 

Deduct what will remain as unex- 
pended balance at the end of the 
year, - 14,000,000 

21,000,000 


$40,000,000 

This estimate, sir, does not rest solely on my own judg- 
ment. 1 find others acquainted with the subject, and compe- 




7 


tent to judge, coming to conclusions not far different from my 
own. It is true this rests in opinion. It cannot be mathe- 
matically proved that we shall have a surplus in the Treasury 
at the end of the year ; but the practical question is, whether 
that result is not so highly probable that it is our duty to make 
some provision for it, and to make that provision now. 1 pro- 
pose only to divide the surplus. If it shall happen, after all, that 
there shall be no surplus, then the measure will have done no 
harm. But if the surplus shall not be forty millions, but only 
thirty-five, thirty, twenty-five, or even twenty, still, if it be 
now probable that it will leach even the lowest of these sums, 
is it not our duty to provide for it ? 

This is a contingent measure, not a positive one. It is in- 
tended to apply to a case, in my judgment, very likely to arise, 
indeed, I may say a case which, in all probability will arise ; 
but if it should not, then the proposed measure will have no 
operation. 

1 have already observed that, in my opinion, the measure 
should be limited to one single division — one distribution of 
the surplus money in the Treasury.- In that respect, my prop- 
osition differs from the bill of the honorable member from 
Carolina, and it differs, too, from the amendment proposed by 
the member from New r York. 1 think it safest to treat the 
present state of things as extraordinary, as being the result of 
accidental causes, or causes, the recurrence of which, hereaf- 
ter, we cannot calculate upon with certainty. 

There would be insuperable objections, in my opinion, to 
a settled practice of distributing revenue among the States. 
It w r ould be a strange operation of things, and its effects on our 
system of government might well be feared. I cannot recon- 
cile myself to the spectacle of the States receiving their reven- 
ues, their means even of supporting their own Governments, 
from the Treasury of the United States. If, indeed, the land 
bill could pass, and we could act on the policy, which I think 
the true polic} r , of regarding the public lands as a fund, be- 
longing to the People of all the States, I should cheerfully concur 
in that policy, and be willing to make an annual distribution 
of the proceeds of the lands, for some years, at least. But if 
we cannot separate the proceeds of the lands from other rev- 
enue, if all must go into the Treasury together, and there 
remain together, then I have no hesitation in declaring, now, 
that the income from customs must be reduced. It must be 
reduced, even at the hazard of injury to some branches of 


8 


manufacturing industry ; because this, in my opinion, would be a 
less evil than that extraordinary and dangerous state of things, 
in which the United States should be found laying and collect- 
ing taxes, for the purpose of distributing them, when collected, 
among the States of the Union. 

I do not think it difficult to account for the present overflow- 
ing condition of the Treasury. The Treasury enjoys two 
sources of income — the custom-house and the public lands. 
The income from the customs has been large, because the com- 
merce of the country has b6en greatly extended, and its pros- 
perity has been remarkable. The exports of the country have 
continued to increase. While the cotton crop has grown larger 
and larger from year to year, the price of cotton has still kept 
up. Notwithstanding all the apprehensions entertained by 
prudent and sagacious men to the contrary, the world has not 
become overstocked with this article. The increase of con- 
sumption seems to keep pace with the increase of supply. The 
consequence is, a vast and increasing export by us, and an im- 
port corresponding with this export, and with the amount of 
earnings in the carrying trade ; since the general rule undoubt- 
edly is, taking a number of years together, that the amount of 
imports, and the earnings of freights, are about equal to the 
of exports. The cotton-fields of the South most unquestion- 
ably form a great part of the basis of our commerce, and the 
earnings of our navigation another. 

The honorable member from South Carolina has referred to 
the tariff act of 1 828 as the true cause of the swollen state of the 
Treasury. I agree that there were many things in the act of 
1828 unnecessarily put there. But we know they were not 
put there by the friends of the act. That act is a remarkable 
instance, I hope never to.be repeated, of unnatural, violent, 
angry legislation. Those who introduced it designed, origin- 
ally, nothing more than to meet the new condition of things 
which had been brought about by the altered policy of Great 
Britain in relation to taxes on wool. A bill with the same 
end in view had passed the House of Representatives in 1827, 
but was lost in the Senate. The act of 182S, however ob- 
jectionable though it certainly was in many respects, has not 
been, in my opinion, the chief cause of the over-product of 
the customs. 1 think the act of 1832, confirmed by the act of 
1833, commonly called the compromise act, has had much more 
to do in producing that result. Up to the time of the passing 
of the act of 1832, the minimum principle had been preserved 


9 


in laying duties on certain manufactures, especially woollen 
cloths. This ill-understood and much-reviled principle ap- 
pears to me, nevertheless, and always has appeared to me, to 
be a just, proper, effectual, and strictly philosophical mode of 
laying protecting duties. It is exactly conformable, as I think, 
with the soundest and most accurate principles of political 
economy. It is, in the most rigid sense, what all such enact- 
ments, so far as practicable, should be ; that is to say, a mode 
of laying specific duty. It lays the impost exactly where it will 
do good, and leaves the rest free. It is an intelligent, discern- 
ing, discriminating principle ; not a blind, headlong, general- 
izing, uncalculating operation. Simplicity, undoubtedly, is a 
great beauty in acts of legislation, as well as in the works of 
art ; but in both it must be a simplicity, the result of congruity 
of parts, and adaptation to the end designed ; not a rude gen- 
eralization, which either leaves the particular object unac- 
complished, or, in accomplishing it, accomplishes a dozen 
others also, which were not desired. It is a simplicity which 
is wrought out by knowledge and skill ; not the rough product 
of an undistinguishing, sweeping, general principle. 

Let us suppose that the gradations in woollen cloths be rep- 
resented by a line. At one end of this line are those of the 
highest price, and let the scale descend to the other end, 
where, of course, will be those of the lowest price. Now, 
with the two ends of this line our manufacturers have not much 
to do : that is to say, they have not much to do with the pro- 
duction of the very highest, or the very lowest, of these articles. 
Generally speaking, they work in the intermediate space. It 
was along this space, along this part of the line of work, that 
the minimum principle, as it has been usually called, operated. 
It struck just where the great object of protection required it 
to strike, and it struck nowhere else. All the rest it left free. 
It wasted no power. It accomplished its object by the least 
possible expenditure of means. Its aim was levelled at a dis- 
tinct and well-discerned object, and its aim was exact, and the 
object was reached. 

But the minimum had become the subject of obloquy and 
reproach. It was railed at, even, in good set terms, by some 
who professed to be, and who doubtless were, friends of the 
protecting policy. It was declared to be deception. It was 
said that it cheated the People, inasmuch as under its operation 
they did not see'what amount of taxes they really paid. For 
one, I did not admit the fact, nor yield to the argument. I had 


10 


no doubt the People knew what taxes they paid under the 
operation of the laws, as well as we who passed the laws ; and 
whether they stopped to make precise calculations or not, if 
they found the tax neither oppressive nor heavy, and the ef- 
fect of the law decidedly salutary, I did not believe they would 
complain of it, unless it was made a part of some other con- 
troversy. The minimum principle, however, in its applica- 
tion to broadcloths, was overthrown by the law of 1832, and 
that law, as it came from the House of Representatives, and as 
it finally passed, substituted a general and universal ad valo- 
rem duty of fifty per cent. An effort was made in the Senate 
to resist this general ad valorem system, and to hold on to the 
specific duty. But it did not prevail. The Senate was nearly 
evenly divided. The casting or turning vote was held by a 
gentleman, a friend for whom 1 always entertain very high re- 
gard, a member from Maryland, not now in the Senate. Af- 
ter the discussion, he admitted himself almost satisfied that the 
law, in this particular, ought not to be altered ; but his im- 
pression against the minimum , nevertheless finally prevailed, 
and he voted for the new mode, that is to say, the general ad 
valorem mode of laying the duty ; and, to render this effectual, 
he himself proposed to cary that duty as high as sixty per cent. 
The Senate fixed it, indeed, at fifty-seven per cent . but the 
House non-concurred, and the law finally passed, as all know, 
establishing an ad valorem duty of fifty per cent, on woollen 
cloths, &c. 

Now, Mr. President, when we recollect that the duties on 
woollen fabrics, of all kinds, bring into the Treasury four, or 
five, or six millions a year, every man acquainted with our 
manufactures must see at once that a portion of this vast sum 
is perfectly useless as a protecting duty ; because it is imposed 
on fabrics with which our own manufacturers maintain no 
competition, and in regard to which, therefore, they ask no 
protection. I have instituted sundry inquiries for the purpose 
of learning, and of showing, what is the amount of duties col- 
lected annually on woollens, which have no distinct bearing, 
as protecting duties, on any of the products of our manufac- 
tures. At present I will only say, and will say that with great 
confidence, that of the surplus money now in the Treasury 
several millions are the proceeds of ad valorem duties , which 
have conferred no perceptible benefit whatever on our manufac- 
turing establishments. It is therefore, sir, that I regard the 
law of 1832, and not the law of 1828, as the great error in our 


11 


legislation. This law of 1832 was confirmed by the act of 
1833, and is, of course, in actual operation at the persent mo- 
ment, except so far as it has become affected by the gradual 
reduction provided for by the last-mentioned act. 1 wish not 
to discuss the act of 1833. 1 do not propose, at present, to 

disturb its operation ; but having alluded to it, I take the oc- 
casion of saying that I have not the least idea that that act can 
remain as the settled system of this country. When the hon- 
orable member from Kentucky introduced it, he called it a 
measure of conciliation, and expressed the hope that if the 
manufacturing interests should be found to suffer under it, it 
might be modified by general consent. Although never con- 
curring in the act, I entertain the same hope. I pray most 
fervently that former strifes and controversies on the tariff 
question may never be revived ; but at the same time it is 
my opinion that the principles established by the law of 1833 
can never form the commercial system of this country. 

But, Mr. President, the most striking increase in the public 
revenue is in that branch of it which is derived from the sales 
of the public lands, flow happens it that the proceeds from 
this quarter have sprung up, thus suddenly, to such a height ? 
The Secretary’s estimate of the proceeds of the sales of the 
public lands for this year was only four millions. The actual 
sales are likely te be twenty. What has occasioned this great 
and unexpected augmentation ? 

Sir, we are to remember that the growth and prosperity of 
the country, generally, are remarkable, and that, as these in- 
crease, the western tide, both of People and property, increa- 
ses also. The reflow of this property is into the Treasury 
through the land offices. 

The well-sustained demand for cotton has, of course, aug- 
mented the demand for cotton lands ; and we all know that 
good lands, for the production of that crop, are sought for with 
great eagerness. We are to include, too, the great expansion 
of the paper circulation among the causes tending to produce 
heavy purchases ; and the amount of foreign capital that has 
found its way through one channel or another, into the coun- 
try, and is giving an additional stimulus, and additional facili- 
ty to enterprises, both public and private. Many of the States 
have contracted large debts, for purposes of improvement^ 
and these stocks have gone abroad. 1 suppose there may be 
fifty millions of State securities now owned in Europe. Foreign 
capital, also, has been introduced, to a great extent of late, as 


12 


the basis of commercial enterprise; a thing ordinarily to be 
expected, when we look to the low rates of interest abroad, 
and the great demand for money at home. It would be 
hazardous to estimate proportions, and amounts, on such a 
subject ; but is is certain that a large amount of property now 
afloat, in ships and goods, owned by Americans, and sailing 
and transported on American account, is put into commercial 
operation by means of foreign capital actually advanced, or 
acting through the agency of credit. This introduction of 
foreign capital, in all the various forms, has doubtless had 
some effect in extending our paper circulation, and in raising 
prices ; and certainly it has ha’d a direct effect upon the ability 
of making investments in the public lands. 

And, sir, closely connected with these causes, is another, 
which I should consider, after all, the main cause, that is, the 
low price of land, compared with other descriptions of prop- 
erty. In everything else prices have run up; but here price 
is chained down by the statute. Goods, products of all kinds, 
and indeed all other lands, may rise, and many of them have 
'risen, some twenty five and some forty or fifty per cent.; but 
Government lands remain at a dollar and twenty-five cents an 
acre; and vast portions of this land are equal, in natural fer- 
tility, to any part of the globe. There is nothing, on either 
continent, to surpass their quality. The Government land, 
therefore, at the present prices, and at the present moment, 
is the cheapest safe object of investment. The sagacity of 
capital has found this out, and it grasps the opportunity. Pur- 
chase, it is true, has gone ahead of emigration; but emigration 
follows it, in near pursuit, and spreads its thousands and its 
tens of thousands close on the heels of the surveyor and the 
land-hunter. When I traversed a part of the Western States, 
three years ago, I could not but ask myself, in the. midst of the 
vast forests around me, Where are the people to come from 
who are to begin cultivation here, and to checker this wilder- 
ness with fields of wheat ? But, when returning on the Cum- 
berland road, or while passing along other great channels of 
communication, I encountered the masses of population moving 
westward, I was tempted to ask myself, on the other hand, a 
far different question, and that was, Where in the world will 
all these people find room to settle ? 

Nor are we to overlook, in this survey of the causes of the 
vast increase in the sale of lands, the effects, almost magical, 
of that great agent of beneficence, prosperity, w r ealth, and 


13 


power — internal improvement. This has brought the 
West to the Atlantic, and carried the Atlantic to the West. 
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin are no longer 
places remote from us. Railroads and canals have brought 
the settlers of these regions so near to us that we almost 
see the smoke of their cabins and hear the strokes of their 
axes. From Maine to the upper Mississippi is already a 
beaten track, with one’s acquaintances every where along 
the roapd, and that road even not a long one, if we measure it 
by the time required to pass over it. 

Mr. President, if 1 am asked how long these causes, or any 
of them, will continue to act, with this effective energy, I 
readily answer that I cannot foresee. Nor can I foresee other 
events, which may affect our revenue in years to come. And 
it is for this reason precisely, that what I propose is limited to 
a single year. All the uncertainties and contingencies which 
naturally belong to human affairs, hang over us. I know not 
what expenditures may be called for next year. I know not 
what may be necessary to satisfy the all-absorbing capacity of 
Indian wars and Indian treaties. I know not what events, at 
home or abroad, may shake our commercial security. I know 
not what frosts and blights may do against the cotton crops. 
I know not what may happen to our currency.* I cannot tell 
what demands for the use of capital in other objects may 
slacken the purchase of public lands; for I am persuaded that, 
hereafter, our income from that source is likely to be much 
more fluctuating than heretofore, as depending less on the 
actual amount of emigration, and more on the occasional plenty 
or scarcity of money. Emigration must hereafter supply its 
wants, much more than formerly, out of lands already sepa- 
rated ’from the public domain. 

Under these circumstances, it appears to me to be prudent 
to limit the proposed division to a single operation. Let us 
lighten the Treasury for once ; and then let us pause, and con- 
template our condition. As to what may then be expedient, 
events will enlighten us. We shall be able to judge more 
wisely, by the result of our experiments, and the future will 
be more visible as it approaches nearer. 

It will be observed, sir, that I give full time to the deposite 
banks to prepare themselves to pay over these funds. Time 
for this purpose is indispensable. We might do rather harm 
than good, if we were to require any sudden operation of that 
kind. Give the banks time ; let them know what they have 


14 


to do ; let the community see into what channels the surplus 
funds are to flow, and when they are to begin to How ; and 
men of business will then be able to see what is before them. 

I have the fullest confidence that if we now adopt this meas- 
ure, it will immediately relieve the country. It will remove 
that severe and almost unparalleled pressure for money 
which is now distressing and breaking down the industry, the 
enterprise, and even the courage of the commercial commu- 
nity. I assure you, sir, this present pressure is not known, or 
felt, or believed here, in any thing like its true extent. If we 
give no relief, I know not what may happen, even in this day 
of high prosperity. I beseech those who have the power, not 
to let the opportunity pass, but to improve it, and thereby to 
revive the hopes and reassure the confidence of the country. 
Having expressed these sentiments, and brought forward this 
specific proposition for one division among the States of the 
surplus funds, I should now move to commit the whole subject, 
either to a select committee, or the Committee on Finance, 
were it not that, looking to the present composition of the 
Senate, I am not desirous of taking a lead in this measure. 
The responsibility naturally rests with those who have the 
power of majorities, and who may expect the concurrence of 
other branches. Meantime I cheerfully give myself to any 
labor which the occasion requires, and I express my own deep 
and earnest conviction of the propriety and expediency of 
the measures which I have endeavored to explain and to 
support. 

Mr. W. then proposed the following as an amendment to the 
“ bill to regulate the deposites of the public money,” as an ad- 
ditional section : 

Sec. . And be it further enacted , That the money which 
shall be in the Treasury of the United States on the first day 

of January, eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, reserving 

millions, shall be divided among the several States, in propor- 
tion to their respective amounts of population, as ascertained 
by the last census, and according to the provision of the second 
section of the first article of the constitution ; and the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury shall pay the same to such persons as the 
several States may authorize to receive it, in the following 
proportions, and at the following times, viz : one-half on the 
first day of April, eighteen hundred and thirty-seven ; one- 
quarter part, on the first day of July, eighteen hundred and 


15 


thirty-seven ; and the remaining quarter on the first day of Oc- 
tober, eighteen hundred and thirty-seven ; and all States which 
shall receive their several proportions according to the provi- 
sions of this act, shall be taken and understood thereby to pledge 
the public faith of such States to repay the same, or any part 
thereof, to the United States, whenever Congress shall require 
the same to be repaid by any act or acts which shall require 
such payment ratably, and in equal proportion, from all the 
States which had received the same. 




